Kick In The Teeth
by Kyandi-Akatensei
Summary: "Whoever said death is easy and peaceful…is a liar!" Aluriana Arquette thought life couldn't get any worse than it already was. Then her life flipped upside down and landed her with five of the most unusual headaches and a new home. But this sarcastic spitfire isn't taking any more kicks in the teeth.
1. Death

_**Summary:**_ "Whoever said death is easy and peaceful…is a liar!" Aluriana Arquette thought life couldn't get any worse than it already was. Then her life flipped upside down and landed her with five of the most unusual headaches and a new home. But this sarcastic spitfire isn't taking any more kicks in the teeth.

Kyandi: Hello everyone! For those of you who don't know me, I'm Kyandi-sama! And this is my OC, Aluri.

Aluri: Hello and goodbye.

Kyandi: Straight to the point aren't you.

Aluri: Sure am.

Kyandi: Well then, fine. Now I know this kind of story has been done before but I liked the idea and decided to give it a try myself. So here it is.

Aluri: Enjoy and review.

Kyandi: I do not own Gundam Wing.

Chapter 1

Whoever said death is easy and peaceful…is a liar! If anything its like getting kicked in the teeth. The pain fills the body as a whole, and reaches to every tip of every finger and toe. It continues to bounce through every pore and tissues, until it finally fades into an echo that leaves one feeling empty, dark, and completely and utterly, alone.

At least that was how fifteen year old, Aluriana Arquette felt about the whole affair. Of course she hadn't been expecting the sudden bullet to the throat that would black her world out. Her day had been as normal as as any else. Sucky, long, and painful. Everyday of life added another bruise to the growing list. A black eye, or maybe even a fist shaped bruise on her ribs. It was always the same. One fight after another.

But that was another matter entirely. The point was she had never saw the gun coming until it was too late. She couldn't even scream for it ripped through her slender throat. It was so quick that Aluri swore she could have gotten whip lash from it. Not that that was possible but it gave her mind something to think about as she floated on a dark cloud.

Aluri had never been overly religious by any standards but she had been raised Baptist. When she finally died she had expected for god to greet her at the pearly gates of heaven with a "Good job my good and faithful servant." Or a "I do not know thee. Be gone.". But it seemed God had different plans for her because neither happened. And no this was not her making fun of religion. Just what she had been taught. So far it had not happened.

Not that she cared. It was quiet on her little black cloud. Floating around and never seeing or hearing another soul. Not exactly peaceful, but quiet. Now if only the pain would finally fade to nothing. Then she would be just grand. But nothing ever went her way. It was like life loved to kick her when she was down. It certainly seemed like that was the case. Especially now, because from the center of her void, appeared a pin prick of light.

Aluri had never handle curiosity well. The whole, "Curiosity killed the cat" thing could certainly be applied to her. Some times she just couldn't contain her curious nature. Now was one of those times. She found herself swimming towards the pinprick. It felt like she was moving through syrup. All of her limbs felt heavy and weighted down. She was moving, she could tell by the slowly increasing size of the light, but it was slow going. When finally she did reach it, she was exhausted.

Funny thing, a dead girl feeling exhausted.

The light in question turned out to be a panel of light about her height and a little wider then she was. Aluri reached out to touch it, her fingers vanishing beyond the light into warm air. She yanked the hand back, wondering. Should she go through? Aluri knew she probably shouldn't but once again her curious nature got the best of her. Before her mind could talk her out of it, her body moved, stepping forward through the light.

Aluri suddenly felt like she was free falling. She couldn't even make a noise as air rushed up around her, whipping her hair and clothes up around her. All she could do was brace herself for the invetible impact she knew was sure to come. She could almost feel it in her bones. Sure enough, she landed. Pain flared anew in her, spreading to cover her whole back and seeping into her limbs before piercing her chest to fill it too. Silence rang in her ears. She felt like she had when she was five and had fallen backwards off the jungle gyms to land flat on her back. But that had been ten feet at the most. This hurt a lot more.

With the new wave of pain it was like the world crashed in on her again. Noise, feeling, smells, everything. It hit her so hard at first it was like someone had blared a speaker in her ears. It left them ringing. Or was that from the impact with the ground? She couldn't tell. All she knew was that when the ringing cleared and the sheer noise faded, she could hear bird song and the sound of wind in the trees. Noise that had always calmed her as a child. It did so now, allowing her to relax her sore muscles.

She could smell wildflowers, the smell of maple trees, the clean open air. She could feel grass, long and thick under her arms and hands. It all relaxed her.

Then she heard it.

The thud, thud, thud of hurried footsteps vibrated the ground. Several sets of them. Her muscles, with a scream of protest, tightened once more. Then the voices reached her ears too. "It's a girl!" came one. It was a male, light and soft, and clearly shocked. "But where did she come from? There are no trees here and nothing flying by in the air." came another male voice, this one more logical and deeper. Then Aluri felt them, one on each side of her, knelling down. "Is she alive?" the first voice asked, concern fillilng his soft voice. Aluri wanted to yell, no! But she couldn't get her voice to work.

Then she felt the first touch. Strong fingers just over the pulse of her neck. "The heart beat is slow, but there." replied the second voice but Aluri didn't hear it for the moment he touched her neck, burning pain erupted. It was then she heart the gasp. "Look! Is that a bullet wound?" asked the first voice. The next touch was softer, gentler…and still hurt like hell. It was a kind of touch Aluri wasn't use to, though. He touched right at the center of her throat where Aluri was sure she had been shot.

"It is. But is half healed already." The second voice replied. "How could she have survived that?" the first asked. She didn't hear a reply and she assumed it had been a nonverbal reply. Then those strong fingers who had checked her pulse, started skimming over her body, poking and prodding, trying to get a grasp on the extent of her injuries. Aluri tried not to scream, but his fingers hit every possible sore spot, until she couldn't hold the cry of pain back. A small, choked cry, hoarse in sound and pitiful even to her own ears, left her lips.

The fingers stilled then. "She's conscious!?" exclaimed the first voice in surprise. Gentle hands came to her face then. "Miss? Are you awake? Can you hear me? If you can I need you to open your eyes." the voice insisted. Could she open them? Hell yeah she could! Aluri had never been weak before. Besides….these voices were starting to ring a very familiar tone in her head. Like she knew them but couldn't place from where she knew them.

She was going to open her eyes just so she could see who these familiar strangers were. Because who her mind told her they were, couldn't possibly be right.

It took effort, she wouldn't lie, but finally she got her eyes to open.

Bright sunlight hit her straight in the eyes, blinding her all over again. Something moved to block it but her sight was still blurred. She could make out two males, about her age. One was blonde, the other brunette. At first that was all she could tell as her eyes adjusted to the light. The blonde let out a happy exclamation. He turned out to be the first speaker, the one with the gentler voice and touch. That meant the brunette was the one with the strong touch.

Aluri's eyes left the blonde, who was talking once more, and landed on the brunette instead. She didn't hear a word the blonde said, the words hitting deaf ears. Instead her eyes grew wide as her vision cleared enough for her to see the face of the brunette.

Her eyes met the vivid green ones looking down at her and panic filled Aluri. She knew that face, those eyes. She could see her own panicked, almost fearful expression mirrored in his eyes as he stared at her. It couldn't possibly be!

"T…Trowa."

Her voice was a barely croaked whisper but he heard it and his eyes narrowed in questioning and confusion. But Aluri couldn't answer. The over whelming emotions and pain of the day took its toll and Aluri's world went black once more. But there was no way, right?

No way that that could have really been Trowa Barton! He was a cartoon character from her childhood…right?

END

Kyandi: It's not a very long first chapter but the others will be longer, promise.

Aluri: Now she just has to type them.

Kyandi: Yeah…that will take forever.

Aluri: Then get to work.

Kyandi: Will do. So everyone enjoy and review.

Aluri: We'll be back as soon as possible.

Kyandi: Bye, bye!


	2. The Impossible Girl

Kyandi: Good morning everyone!

Aluri: Its afternoon.

Kyandi: Whatever~! We're back!

Aluri: With a new chapter for you too.

Kyandi: Yeah, sorry it took so long.

Aluri: She was updating other stories.

Kyandi: I have a lot of them.

Aluri: That you do, so move on.

Kyandi: Right! Eveyone please enjoy and review!

Aluri: Kyandi-sama does not own Gundam Wing.

Chapter 2 The Impossible Girl

Hit by a bus.

That was what Aluri felt like the next time she came around. Her whole body ached, from the top of her head to the tip of her toe. So yes...it felt like she had been hit by a bus. Head on at that.

She was laying on her back still and the noises around her, thankfully, didn't hit her as hard as they had last time. There wasn't much for her to hear anyway. Just a soft, steady beeping off to her left.

The smells though were interesting. She could smell some sort of strong cleaner, the sharp, crips smell of something clean, and under it all, the metallic smell of blood.

Hospital, definitely a hospital. That was what popped into her mind. She had been in enough hospitals to know the smell of one.

But that was soon forgotten as everything rushed back to her, and she finally noticed that her arms and legs were restrained. The beeping increased dramatically as her heart beat sky rocketed. If there was one thing in the world that could get her heart rate and blood pressure to stroke level in the matter of seconds it was being tied down.

Aluri struggled then, hearing the clink of tubes and IVs knocking together as she fought to pull herself free. She didn't open her eyes, because she knew what she'd find. A perfectly blank, white wash room with nothing but a bed and machines. The door would probably be locked too.

Her heart rate shot up once again, the beeps now going crazy as she thrashed. She almost had one hand free when she heard the "swoosh" noise of an electronic door opening. Then there were hurried footsteps. Someone grabbed her arm she had almost ripped free, and forced it down, tightening the restrait on it. Aluri wanted to claw their eyes out. Just swing and keep swinging. Strike first, ask questions later.

Then she heard the soft voice and felt equally soft hands on her face.

"It's alright! Just calm down!" he told her softly.

If anything Aluri twisted even more. There was no way in hell she was going to calm down! They had her tied down! To her that was more then reason enough to keep struggling as long as she could. She might have been calm if she wasn't tied down.

"Trowa! Quickly!"

Aluri heard the clinking of her IVs again and knew what was coming before she felt the soothing, warmth sweep through her body, calming her nerves, and relaxing her muscles. Her heart rate decreased and slowly she fell still and limp until she lay, sleepy and placid on the bed.

"There we go. Just breathe."

Aluri pried her eyes open then to look up at the boy leaning over her. Just when she had hoped it had all been some strange, impossible dream, she found herself confronted with the smiling face of Quatre R. Winner. That meant she had really seen Trowa...and that the others were near by too.

Aluri could feel the bone deep shiver shake her body. Quatre mistook the shiver to mean something else. He gestured for someone to hand him a blanket, but never took his eyes from hers.

A blanket was handed to him and he spread it over her, careful of the monitors and tubes. Aluri hadn't noticed how cold she was until that blissful warmth settled over her.

"There. Better now?" Quatre asked. As a reply, Aluri groaned, the noise clipped and hoarse, before banging her head back, finding she wasn't on a bed but a metal table. This action alarmed Quarte but Aluri was already slipping away into a drug induced sleep.

The last cohertant thought she had was..."God hates me".

-0-0-0-0-

Quarte watched as the girl's eyes slipped close again, the drugs lulling her back to sleep. He honestly didn't know what to think. One minute she was struggling, basically freaking out and then she banged her head back against the table. Of course he worried.

"Watch her please. I'll be back with a pillow to keep her from doing that agian." Quarte told Trowa before rushing from the room.

Trowa hadn't said a word and had stayed back except to hand Quatre the blanket. He couldn't get past the look of pure panic and almost fear she had had when she had looked at him and said his name. Most people who knew him didn't have that look of panic.

Trowa pushed the thought from his head and turned to look at her. She really was an impossible girl. Even laying on the table, limbs restrained, and swathed in a cotton, white blanket, she was beautiful yet looked like utter crap.

Her features were high, sloping planes with a small, straight nose, full pink lips, a slightly stubborn chin, and a dimple in each cheek that probably stood out when she smiled. Her skin was a sun tanned ivory, her body lean and full figured. She was a few inches shorted then Quatre, putting her head and shoulders shorter then Trowa himself.

Her coloring was excotic. Her long, wavy mass of hair was a pale strawberry blonde that was more blond then strawberry. It was so pale in color that in certain light it could pass for white with hints of vermillion red. And it was so long it spilled over the edge of the table, falling to almost hit the floor. Standing, Trowa was sure the hair would fall to her thighs. Her thin, arched brows and long curling lashes, were the same paleness of her hair. It was beautiful on her, but it was her eyes that stunned him.

When she had first opened them the sheer paleness of the color made him think there was no color to them at all. Then he had looked again. The eyes that had looked at him with panic, were a pale silver-grey color that almost had no color. Add to it the scars and fresh injuries that they had found littered about her skin and the healing bullet wound on her slender throat and the girl was like nothing else he had ever seen. The sheer mass of injuries was over whelming at that.

He could almost believe she was a dream the way she fell out of the sky, but here she was laying before him. There were so many questions in his head, of course, and when he and Quatre had called the others, knowing this was urgent, they had had the same questions.

Who was she? Where did she come from? How had she known Trowa? So many questions and no answers. At the moment, the other three pilots were on their way to the base where Quatre and Trowa were now bunked along with the Doctors who had been monitoring the girl, whose recovery was coming along, despite the five times she had started thrashing in her sleep and trying to rip out the IVs and tubes hooked up to her.

It was that reason alone that they had restrained her. She appeared too under fed and abused to cause much trouble otherwise. Trowa doubt she could muster up the strength to fight any of them. They just didn't need her to possbily cause more harm to herself.

The door opened then, admitting Quatre, pillow in hand. Behind him came Duo, who had been the first to leave when he received their call and thus the first to arrive.

"So this is her?" Duo asked peering down at the girl, his hands jammed into the pockets of his pants.

"Who is she?" he asked.

Quatre carefully lift the girl's head, cradling it in one arm while he slipped the pillow under it. He was careful not to jolt her neck which still seemed to hurt her greatly when touched or moved too much.

"No idea. I used a DNA sample to search but nothing came up. Not anywhere. No one even fitting her description." Quatre replied.

All three boys looked down at the sleeping girl. The door opened again and Heero stepped in, Wufie hovering behind him at the door. The latter seemed furious while Heero was blank as always.

"You called us here because of a _**woman**_!?" Wufie snapped when he looked down at the girl.

"Like we said, she knew Trowa on sight, and he's sure he has never seen her before. And I can't find her anywhere in any database. Not even in restricted files. Its like she's never existed." Quatre replied.

"And everyone gets entered into a database of some kind at some point. Even the five of us." he added.

All five turned a look on the girl. If that was true...then how come they could find her in any database? The girl would of had to be a ghost to escape that.

"What's wrong with her neck?" Duo asked leaning in to look at the bandages around her neck.

"A gun shot wound to the throat." Trowa replied.

"Should have taken out her wind pipe as well as her vocal cords, but she's had no problems with either." he added.

"Wh-what!?" Duo stuttered looking up from where he had started to reach out to touch the girl's neck.

Duo looked down at his hand, the fingers of which were just a few inches away from the bandage wrapped neck of the girl. He instantly drew his hand back. Trowa now had Heero's and Wufie's full attention too.

"How could she survive that!?" Duo asked.

"It was already half healed when she...dropped in on us." Quatre replied.

"Best we can guess is it must have been from a distance and was a clean through-and-through that missed all vital parts." Trowa told them.

"But that wasn't all. She's covered in old and new bruises, scars, and cuts with a couple of recently healed ribs, a cracked cheek bone, and a recently healed broken collar bone...someone beat her, bad." Quatre added.

"Typical woman...weak." Wufie remarked, though he couldn't tell if he was more angry at the girl for being weak and getting beaten, or at the man who was low enough to raise his hand to a woman.

"She has defensive wounds too. Her knuckles are bruised, the skin split open. She fought back." Trowa remarked.

Duo untucked one of the girl's hands from under the blanket, careful of the restraint tied around the wrist, and peeled back the bandages over her knuckles. Sure enough, the knuckles of her long, thin fingers were bruised and scraped, the skin over a couple even split open. She had fought back and had hit hard. Duo righted the bandages and put the blanket back in place, tucking it around her hand.

"How does she know you?" Heero asked Trowa.

"Don't know." Trowa replied.

"We had to keep her restrained and sedated. She struggles and tires to rip out the IVs else wise." Quatre said.

"Mostly in her sleep. Its like she has horrible nightmares she's trying to escape from. But when she wakes, her heart rate and blood pressure rising and fast." he added.

As if on cue, the girl twitched, fingers flexing into fist like she was preparing for a fight. It was just small twitches at first, and then she jerked to one side, pulling against the restraints. The leather bonds creaked as she heaved with all her strength, but held. Quatre leaned on the girl, keeping her chest down, until her struggling slowed and the ceased.

"She'll wake up soon. Her metablolism burns through the drugs quickly." Trowa remarked.

"Then lets move her. It will be easier to talk to her if she is upright." Wufie remarked.

END

Kyandi: I really need to work on longer chapters.

Aluri: Then do it instead of talking about it.

Kyandi: I'll do that.

Aluri: Until then lets move on.

Kyandi: Right! Also for those of you who don't read my story Flip Side, I have decided that I am going to make a Q&amp;A on youtube. If you have any questions about any of my OCs at all then leave the question in my reviews or pm me the question and I will answer them all in the Q&amp;A.

Aluri: This is also a Q&amp;A where you can ask questions about Kyandi-sama herself.

Kyandi: You could leave that part out.

Aluri: Wouldn't be fair if I did.

Kyandi: Yeah, sure. Anyway, please enjoy and review, everyone.

Aluri: We'll be back soon!

Kyandi: Bye, bye!


	3. Memories, Oh How I Hate Thee

Kyandi: We're back!

Aluri: She's had so much of this already written that she's just been typing it all up.

Kyandi: Your point.

Aluri: You have no social life.

Kyandi: Pfft! Whatever!

Aluri: Well you don't.

Kyandi: Yeah, yeah. Anyway, everyone please enjoy and review

Aluri: Especially review. We'll stop posting chapters unless we get reviews.

Kyandi: What she means is that we don't know if you all like it if you don't review. So please review!

Aluri: Kyandi-sama does not own Gundam Wing.

Chapter 3 Memories, Oh How I Hate Thee

Aluri wasn't a scream-your-frustrations kind of girl. That being said, when she next woke up, she was sorely tempted to do just that.

Aluri awoke in a sitting position, her chin on her chest and her bruised ribs protesting the position. The chair was cold steel bolted to the floor and leather restraints held her arms to the arm rest and her ankles to the legs of the chair. She didn't move at first and kept her breathing deep and even in hopes to keep her heart rate down.

Truth be told she wanted to just scream. Scream and keep screaming. She wanted to go into one of those crazy, frustrated fits where she just screamed and cried, and pound her fist. She couldn't do any of those. Logically speaking, she needed to remain calm and think this all through. Use the brain she had been given before it collected cobwebs.

That in mind, she tested the restraints but couldn't budge a single limb. They had ensured that she couldn't get free. That made the whole situation even more frustrating. She could handle it all perfectly well if she had use of her hands and legs. What girl didn't want to freak out waking up to being tied down? She **was** only human after all.

She could feel panic starting to set in and had to stop for a moment to calm herself. She didn't need her blood pressure sky rocketing to stroke levels. She had managed, somehow, to survive a gunshot to the throat. She didn't want to just turn around and die of a stroke or heart attack. That would just be pitiful.

When she was sure she wouldn't panic and start freaking out, she carefully tested the restraints once more looking for any weak spots that she could use to wiggle free somehow, still not lifting her head from the position it had been in when she woke. If they were watching her, she didn't want to give away that she was awake. Not just yet.

She fell still when a pair of legs, clad in black pants, appeared in her line of sight. If she really was where she thought she was, this was one of five people. Since she wasn't looking at bare legs, that excluded Heero who usually always wore shorts. Since it wasn't brown or white pants, that also excluded Trowa and Quatre who usually wore pants in those colors. Lastly, she was looking at boots instead of slipper like shoes. That meant the person standing in front of her was none other then Duo Maxwell.

His hand appeared in her line of vision, reaching for her neck. Aluri reacted purely on instinct and without thinking doing the first thing that popped into her head. She snapped her head to the side, at the protest of her neck, and clamped her teeth down on his hand.

"Damn it!" Duo hissed, yanking his hand back.

Aluri let him pull back, looking up at him through a screen of hair. The boy shook his hand, blood dotting his skin from where her teeth had broken the skin. A string of curses left his mouth. It was wasn't the amount of damage she usually dealt, but Aluri was pleased none the less with her work. It woud teach him not to touch her again.

The door behind Duo opened then, and Aluri's stomach bottomed out. There stood Wufei and Heero, the two most trigger happy of the group. Well...Wufei was blade happy, but that was beside the point. He was also the one that disliked women the most. The point was, they were both dangerous to her if she didn't play her cards right.

After looking at the still cursing Duo, both turned their eyes on her. Aluri, head still ducked, met their gazes evenly, keeping her face and eyes blank. To them she was just as blank as Heero and Trowa, but in truth...Aluri was terrified!

Not of them though, but of the thought she might have actually died and ended up in a cartoon! It was an impossible concept and yet there she sat and it terrified her. Of course she would not let them see it. That wouldn't get her anywhere.

She had learned over the years to never let anyone see what was inside. Not fear, nor pain, nor sadness. If she did, the world would tear her apart. This at least, was second nature. So she didn't let them see her fear or the fact that she was close to freaking out. This really couldn't be happening...could it? She could see them, could hear them, could taste Duo's blood on her tongue. This had to be real, but how?

"She bit me!" Duo exclaimed, pointing at Aluri as Quatre and Trowa appeared in the door way.

Quatre took a hold of Duo's hand and looked at the perfect ring of teeth marks on either side of the base of his thumb. He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket, wrapping it around the bleeding wounds for Duo.

"She bit pretty hard." Quatre said.

"I was just trying to check her pulse! She had started twitching again. I didn't know she was awake!" Duo insisted, looking at the teeth marks.

"Apparently she didn't want you to touch her." Trowa remarked.

Aluri couldn't help the mental "Thank you!" she screamed in her head. She didn't think her throat could take her actually screaming it out loud. It hurt already. But finally, someone who understood that! No tied up girl wanted to be touched by one of the guys that had put her in that position.

Aluri sat bolt up straight, leaning as far back as possible, when Heero stepped forward to look at her more closely. The two met each other's gaze but it was apparent she didn't trust him one bit and he didn't know if she was a threat or not. Aluri strained her neck, with much protesting from the area and a lot of pain, to look up at him. It hurt like hell. Especially right where the bullet had sliced through her throat but she wouldn't look away from him. If her legs had been free, she would have kicked Heero just to make him back up. Instead she just kept her eyes on him, blowing strand of her hair out of her face.

"Can she speak?" Heero asked, his question not directed at Aluri but Quatre and Trowa.

All five boys watched as a purely reproachful look enter her face and her eyes narrowed. It was almost as if she was asking, "What, do you think I'm stupid!?". She obviously was not happy with the mere suggestion that she was too stupid to speak. Her fingers flexed, the knuckles cracking and even popping as they did. She had obviously tested the restraints and knew they would hold her.

"If she can speak then, for her own safety, she'll answer our questions and quick. Do you hear me, woman?" Wufei said.

One pale eyebrow shot up and she tilted her head to the side as she looked past Heero to look at Wufei. The expression so clearly said, "Or what?", that Trowa almost smiled. That one look had a world of sass in it.

Wufei took up a position in front of her, arms crossed as he looked down at her. The girl looked up at him, raising one eyebrow in questioning. Apparently she wasn't intimidated at all by the boy.

"Who are you, woman?" he asked.

His reply?

She turned one of her hands over, twisting the wrist in the restraint, and held up three fingers, the thumb and pinkie folded in. The gesture was simple...she was telling him to read between the lines. Basically...she had flipped him off in an off-hand kind of way. She wasn't out right flipping him off but it was close enough to anger the Chinese boy.

"You can tell us or we'll force it out of you." Wufei said, giving her one final chance.

This time, in reply, she stuck her tongue out at him. It was an immature gesture, but it was effective in pushing the last button with Wufei, who turned and stormed out of the room. Probably to go speak to the Doctors about how to get her talking.

"You're just making this worse on yourself." Duo told her.

The boys watched as she rolled her head side to side, her neck popping as it rolled from side to side before she let her head roll back so she could look down her nose at him with a down right icy look. That one look said it all. Come hell or high water, she wouldn't back down. She would hold her ground no matter what.

They would see how long that lasted.

-0-0-0-0-

Aluri would not blink!

Not first at least. Across the room from her, sitting backwards in a chair, leaning on the backrest and staring at her, was Duo. The two, without saying a word, had entered a staring contest. Aluri had a knack for staring at something for extended periods of time without blinking. it was a bit of a useless talent in her opinion especially since she got it from staring at a TV screen a lot, but at the moment it came in handy. After angering Wufei, an act she knew she shouldn't have done, all of the others, save Duo, had left the room. Duo had pulled up a chair and was watching her closely. She didn't know why but he had. It wasn't like she could get out of the restraints.

Aluri tilted her head to the side, the corners of her mouth starting to tip up when she saw the tell tale twitching of Duo's eyes that showed her that he was close to blinking. It was a silly thing to do, having a staring contest, but it kept her mind from wondering. And she really didn't want to think about how she got here or what happened before that. Especially not about what happened before.

She didn't feel any of her injuries at the moment thanks to something Quatre had given her through an IV still stuck in her arm. Despite that she knew her body would ache if she thought about what had happened before awaking in this world. It was a traitor like that. If is liked something it didn't care what she thought about the situation. So the staring contest kept her focused on Duo instead of anything else.

The twitching of his left eye increased until finally, with a noise of annoyance, he blinked and rubbed at his eyes. Aluri was about to let out a very loud and unsportsman like "Ha!" when the door slid open to allow Heero entry. Behind him came two of the five Doctors, Doctor J and Professor G, wheeling some kind of monitor-like machine between them.

Aluri's back went rim-rod straight at the sight of it. Especially when they stopped it right beside her and she could see the little tabs they would soon be attaching to her. Behind them came Quatre and Trowa. No Wufei in sight.

"Now, dear, let us start." Doctor J said.

Aluri didn't look at him for her eyes were locked on the machine. She was in deep trouble and she knew it. Whatever that machine was, it wasn't going to equal good for her.

-0-0-0-0-

Her eyes instantly went to the machine and didn't move from it. The four pilots present could have sworn fear flashed through the girl's pale eyes and then an even stronger flash of unease, but then both were shoved behind an iron wall almost as soon as it appeared.

What came next, they could only discribe as pure fury.

Those naturally wide eyes, narrowed and her small nose wrinkled. Long nails dug into the arms of the chair and her back pressed back against the backrest. Her chin lowered so she was looking at them through her pale lashes, her eyes blazing.

To Trowa she looked like a wild animal that had been cornered. If she was anything like those animal then she could be dangerous to approach. Quatre saw it as well and stepped forward, his hands raised in a gesture of peace.

"Its alright. Its just a monitor of sorts. Its so you don't have to speak and strain your throat." he told her.

Those pale grey eyes turn to him. The others were surprise to see the girl respond well to Quatre, like she knew he, at least, wouldn't hurt her. She visibly relaxed as she met his eyes. Happy with the positive response, Quatre continued to talk to her.

"They are only going to put tabs on your head, neck, and face. They will be careful of your neck wound. Its a scanner." Quatre explained, the girl's gaze shooting to the machine and the Doctors before returning to the blond boy in front of her.

"It will allow us to see into your memories and to see what happened before Trowa and I found you." Quatre added.

With this last comment all progress Quatre had made vanished. She regressed quickly and all attempts at hiding her feelings, temporarily flew out the none existent window.

The girl's eyes flew open wide, panic filling their silver-grey depths before her entire posture shut down. The eyes narrowed and her nose wrinkled once more, her shoulders hunched, and her fingers tigthened on the armrest to the point everyone in the room could hear the cracking of her knuckles. It was clear she did not want them to pick through her memories.

"It's alright! This is the only way to absolutely prove that you are no danger to us." Quatre reassured her.

The Doctors approached her then. In the end Quatre had to hold her head still, while the monitor tabs were attached to her. The whole time, Doctor J explained the machine farther to the girl, first showing her the tabs. The tabs had ultra thin needles on them.

"The needles on these tabs will peirce your skin and when the scanner is turned on you will feel small, sharp pricks as the needle peirce through your skull to your cerebral cortex where your long term and short term memories are stored. They will then release a chemical that will force your brain to reply all vivid memories you have stored. Oh do not fret, dear, there will be no damage done to your brain or the way it functions and the needles will leave behind no other damage." Doctor J said, adding the last part when her eyes widened again.

A few times she winced as the needles pierced her skin. She tried a few times to pull away but Quatre's gentle hold was firm enough to keep her head still. Finally the tabs were in place and the scanner and the monitor for her vitals were turned on. The girl jolted slightly when the needles did just as Doctor J said they would.

"You will experience a mild headache and a possible fever afterward, my dear, but nothing life threatening I assure you. Now this scanner will, however, show us all of your strongest memories. That means I can not control how far back into your memory it will go." Doctor J explained to the girl.

Her only reply to this was a dirty look. The idea obvious didn't sit right with her. But she would have to deal with it since she had been the one who was too stubborn to tell them anything. So yes, it was partly her fault.

"And another side effect of this method is that, unfortunently it will also force you to relive the memories. Meaning you will feel, smell, hear, taste, and see everything you did in the memories." he added.

Fear and panic entered her eyes this much.

"It is unavoidable though." he added.

The girl wasn't listening though. She had turned her attention instead to trying to shake the tabs free but none budged from their spots and all it did was hurt her neck.

"There we go. Now let us step next door." Professor G said leading the way out of the room.

Next door five large screens would allow them to watch the memories as the scanner unearthed them. A sixth monitor would display her vitals and a large one-way mirror allowed them to watch the girl as she was forced to relive the memories. Wufei waited there with the other three Doctors.

"It will start with the earliest memories it can find." Professor G said.

Quatre looked at the window watching the girl who was shifting the chair as much as the restraints would allow her.

"This is feels wrong." he remarked lowly.

"But its the only way. Even if she speaks, it might not be true." Duo remarked.

Quatre fell silent. She would know how far back the scanner reached and he was sure...she wasn't going to be too awfully happy with it.

"There, here it comes."

All five pilots looked up at the screens. The first few memories were from the few of an infant and featured a beautiful, young woman. She resembled the girl too much to be anything other then her mother. Her thick, long, cork screws curls were a deep choppery red and her kind and gentle eyes were a vibrant green, a shade or two darker then Trowa's own. She held the child with care, rocking her as she spoke. She was beautiful with a warm smile on her face, but was ill looking with dark circles under her eyes, pale skin, and the beginnings of a hallowness to her cheeks.

"_Hello, my little Sutha talun_." she cooed to the baby.

"What is that?" Duo asked.

"Irish for "strawberry"." Doctor J replied idly.

"_How is mama's little girl today?_" the woman added confirming that she was indeed their Jane Doe's mother.

"They look so much alike she could only be her mother." Trowa remarked.

"She's beautiful though." Quatre replied.

The next few years flashed by on the screens, the five different screens showing multiple memories at once all so clear they could have been part of a movie.

In most of the memories is showed a tall, handsome man watching from the background. He was indeed a handsome man with strong features, pale blonde hair sleeked back from his face, and cold grey eyes the exact same shade as those of the girl Trowa and Quatre had found. The memories showed the man with her mother, but he would never approach the child, always going out of his way to avoid her or to glare at her until she retreated herself.

"She has a fabulous memory." Doctor J said. "So clear and so far back. Most don't remember infancy. Not even as a stored memory they can not conjur."

The girl in the next room had, by this point, leaned her head back as the memories washed over her. As the years progressed in the memories though the woman seemed to get more and more ill until a memory from when the girl was six showed her attending a funeral for her mother.

In that memory she stood beside the tall, handsome man with pale blonde hair who had stalked mother and daughter in previous memories. In the funeral memory, as they walked away from the grave, the girl reached up to the man's sleeve and tugged. The voice that spoke was tiny, laddened with a faint accent that was a perfect blend of French and Irish. It was a soft, but rich sound.

"_Daddy_," it said as the girl tugged. "_What happened to Mama_?"

The man, who could only be her father, looked down at the child, eyes so cold and cruel it amazed those watching that the child didn't flinch away or remove her hand.

"_She's gone. __**You**__ killed her_."

"That's a horrible thing to say to a child." Quatre remarked.

In the next room, the girl seemed to agree as she flinched, shifting in the chair as her nose wrinkled up. Her eyes had closed during the memories of her mother and were now squeezed shut as if she was in pain. The memories moved on and the girl started twitching, straining against the restraits, knowing full well what was coming next and apparently not liking it.

"Her heart beat and blood pressure are raising." Heero remarked.

Despite that, the next couple of memories were pretty harmless, showing her as she played in a large backyard with no moblie suits in the air, watching the news as it showed the chaos of the world, showing events that had never in the history of their world, happened.

"What's going on? The lack of mobile suits, news cast on events that have never happened, and if I'm right, I just saw the date on the news red October fourteenth of the year two thousand." Duo remarked.

No one had an answer to this question though. Then they saw it. The girl was still about six at the time and was watching a new cartoon on her TV. The pilots stared in shock at seeing their own faces on the screen. Day in and day out the girl watched the show, watching their missions and making comments now and then. "_I wonder if Daddy would let me take arobatics_." was one comment and "_I play the piano too_!" was another. All pretty harmless comments.

As shocked as they were about this discovery, it was the memories from then on that had them falling into silence. The girl struggled in her restraints trying to stop the flow of memories but they came anyhow. Every last bloody and cruel one. It seemed at the first anniversity of his wife's death, her father started taking it out on his daughter.

The first couple of years it wasn't much. A hit here, a shove there, and a lot of screaming and insulting. Then at about ten, he completely snapped. The pilots watched, some in horror, as the man beat his daughter within an inch of her life and with no mercy or remorse. At first she tried to run and got a beating even worse for it. As time past, she learned not to turn her back and fought back. But never, not even once, did she beg. She never begged, she never cried...she never asked her father "why".

She took the beating and at the hospital, lied for her father.

One time the man broke his eleven year old daughter's arm by slamming her into a book shelf. Another he gave his twevle year old daughter a concussion by throwing a chair at her. There were several injuries, several trips to the hospital, but the worse was at fourteen when he threw her out a second story window. Thankfully the girl landed among some thick bushes and was spared her life if nothing else.

When she returned from the hospital after that, thought, he shoved her into a glass table, shattering it. In retaliation, she broke his nose and blackened both his eyes. Each time she gave the hospital a new lie and stuck to it, her father agreeing with whatever ridiculous story his daughter had come up with. The police was never called.

Trowa glanced at the girl through the mirror. She was gripping the arms so tight her knuckles had gone white. Her eyes were still squeezed shut and she had tried to curl in on herself though the restraints wouldn't let her. Her heart beat would rise and fall with each new memory, her blood pressure inching closer and closer to stroke level.

She was feeling all of the pain all over again. He turned his attention back to the monitors as they reached a point just before he and Quatre had found her. It was another fight with her father and Trowa and Quatre were both starting to get a bad feeling.

In this memory the girl was holding her own pretty well and even threw a vase at him before kicking him in the pelvic bone hard enough that she heard a crack. But despite that he seemed dead set on hurting her. His boots found her ribs, her back hit shelves and walls, and his fist blackened her skin. He didn't stop until she hit her back on the floor and was in too much pain to get back up.

Through the whole beating he had yelled things at her, raining his fist down on her. "_You're worthless_!" and "_You monster child_!", and "_Murderous leech_!" and the one that really spiked her heart rate, "_You killed my wife_!".

His face was twisted in fury and pain as he hurt her, no sign of a father's love in those cold grey eyes so much like the ones his own daughter had. When finally she lay unmoving on the floor, he pulled a small silver pistol, putting it to her throat, the girl focusing on his face. The next few seconds sent chills through most of those watching.

"_**I wish you had never been born**_!" followed by a ringing gun shot.

Then all the screens went black.

In the next room the girl jerked forward in the chair to hang from the restraints just as the gun fired. Almost as if she had been shot all over again. Then her heart flat lined, her head hanging forward and her breathing stopping altogether.

"Her heart stopped!" Quatre exclaimed in concern, but before he could reach the door, a light appeared on the screen.

It grew until she plunged head first into it. Then the sounds came of bird song and wind in tree branches. Then Quatre's voice, followed by Trowa's sounded.

A beep on the monitor singalled the restart of the girl's heart just as she took a gasping breath, her body shaking all over. She remained hanging forward against the restraints, gasping in a few more breaths, the shaking never ceasing.

The Doctors shut off the scanner then having reached the present.

"He...killed her. And yet, she here." Duo remarked into the stunned silence.

"You will probably need her side of the story to make sense of this. Though we saw her memories, we don't know her thoughts, her feelings, or what she knows." Doctor J said.

The boys looked at each other. Already Quatre was out the door heading next door to the girl. The others followed. When they stepped into the room, the girl still hadn't moved, but she was breahing. Quatre took a step towards her and that was when they heard it. Though it was more mature, softer in a way, and hoarse from the abuse on her throat, it was the same slight accented voice that had come from her younger self in the memories.

And she didn't sound happy.

"I so dearly hope you got what you needed."

With that she eased herself back, moving slowly as if her whole body hurt to move. She leaned back against the backrest and sank into the chair. She looked exhausted, her face pale and sweat drying on her skin. She still had a death grip on the armrest but her eyes and face were, once again, blank.

"So you can speak." Wufei said dryly. The look that was shot his way was a tired, annoyed once. She was clearly in no mood for him.

"No these are rooster noises coming out of my mouth." she replied only managing to anger Wufei.

"Thank you so much for making me live through my death a second time. As if the first time wasn't enjoyable enough." she said, trying for "sarcasm" but her tone was too tired and worn thin to accomplish much more then "weary".

Though clearly shaken and annoyed, there was no anger in her. Not at them and not at her father. She was simply tired and annoyed.

"You want to explain this to us now?" Duo asked.

"Not much to explain. You saw my memories. I'm not from here, and where I come from, you are a cartoon. Well...technically it was an anime, but that is beside the point. The rest I'm not about to go into." she replied.

"How did you get here?" Heero asked.

The girl heaved a weary sigh, sinking as far into the chair as the restraints would let her.

"That is beyond my feild of comprehension, I'm afraid. God, some other higher power, a scientific anomaly, magic...take your pick, because at this point, your guess is as good as mine." she replied.

She shifted again, wincing as one of the tabs at the base of her skull was pulled.

"Here." Quatre stepped forward, removing the tabs for her. She kept one eye on him until he stepped back after removing them. She watched him until he stepped out of reach of her.

All of them were curious to ask one question but after seeing the memories, none did. She apparently saw it on their faces, though.

"Instead of dancing around the subject, just ask the question. Not much I can do to you like this. Not that it should worry you." she remarked.

"Not much...! You bit me!" Duo exclaimed.

"And you don't exactly taste like fine chocolate you know. Perhaps next time you won't try to suddenly touch a girl who has just awakened to find herself restrained in a place she doesn't know. You're lucky I didn't take off a finger." she replied. Duo huffed, crossing his arms.

"I believe we all have two questions in our heads at this moment." Quatre said then.

"Ask away. You will whether I want you to or not." she said.

"For one...what exactly do you know if, as you say, we are a cartoon where you come from?" Quatre asked.

"That depends on what point in the time line I have landed. Though I probably know more then you would like me to know and even more then you, at this present moment, know." she replied.

For a moment she fell quiet as if running something through her mind.

"Heero has self destructed his gundam right? I'm taking this guess since the five of you seem to know each other now."she asked. A look passed through all five boys.

"Yes." Heero replied.

"Then I believe I have a very good idea about where in the time line I am. So yes...far more then you know." the girl remarked.

Duo opened his mouth to speak but she beat him to it.

"Not a chance. I'm not saying another word on that. Things are already off track just by all five of you being together and I take it we're in space which puts it even more so off track. I'm not going to mess with it anymore." she said quickly.

Duo opened his mouth again to speak but she wasn't having it. She had already said no and there was going to be no arguing with her on the subject.

"Next question!" she told him flatly.

Duo frowned. He turned a look on his comrades. Trowa actually agreed with her and so did Quatre and Heero. Knowing too much about their future could turn out to be fatal for them.

"I guess I'll ask the next one." Duo remarked.

"Why aren't you mad? You should be furious." he added.

Without saying it, she seemed to realize that he was talking about her father. The girl heaved a sigh, seeming to sink into herself a bit.

"Why should I be?" was her reply.

The looks she got was a mix of incredilious, disbelief, and, what seemed to spark anger in her, pity.

"He shot and killed you! After beating you for years!" Duo replied.

"And?" she replied. Duo snapped a hand to his face, the other staring at her.

"Are you stupid or something?" Duo asked.

"No, I am not. I'm stubborn. You look at me that way because you don't understand." she replied.

"He beat you and killed you! What is there to understand!?" Duo snapped but Quatre laid a hand on his shoulder to quiet him.

"Then explain it to us." Quatre insisted.

"There is no point in getting angry. All it does is make me tired and blind. I have more important things to focus my time and energy on. And if I hold on to past wrongs I will spend the rest of my life, angry, bitter, and hurt. I'm tired of that. Besides, compared to the two alternitives, he did me a favor. I don't believe I could have done the other two." she explained.

"Alternitives?" Quatre didn't like the sound of that.

"There were only two other possible ways for me out of that because, try as I might, I could never get away from him. He found me every time. So I could have either taken the coward's way out and take my own life, or I could have done the equally unthinkable, and kill my father. No matter what he did to me, no matter how bad it got, I would never do either. That would make me a coward and a low life. I am neither." she replied firmly.

Her eyes instantly snapped to Wufie then in a pointed look.

"And no it is not because I am weak. You were raised on certain beliefs and so was I. The main two beliefs I was taught was one, suicide leads to enternal damnation, and two...respect thy father. No matter what he did, he was still my father." she told him.

Wufei, who had opened his mouth to say something, snapped it close.

"I think you're crazy." Duo replied.

"No, not crazy. Just stubborn." she said, letting her head roll to the side to rest on her shoulder.

"Why keep fighting like that?" Heero asked.

Those lovely pale grey eyes landed on him. In one brief moment they said all. How tired she was, how fed up with the life she had been living she had been. But there was also a fire, burning fiercely and bright in the depths of her eyes giving them a fresh, new breath of life.

"Because I can take it." she replied.

"People can say what they want and take their shots at me, but I have always, and will always, be able to take another kick in the teeth."

END

Kyandi: Yhay, a decent length chapter!

Aluri: Told you, you could do it.

Kyandi: I'm proud of myself now!

Aluri: Good then wrap this up and go work on other projects.

Kyandi: Got it. Everyone please review!

Aluri: We'll be back soon.

Kyanid: Bye, bye!


	4. Accepting the Unacceptable

Kyandi: Hey everyone!

Aluri: We're back.

Kyandi: Yep! I finally finished another story of mine and now updating this one!

Aluri: Its not really finished when you have a sequel for it on the way.

Kyandi:...Just shush!

Aluri: It's true.

Kyandi: Doesn't matter! Anyway, please enjoy and review!

Aluri: Kyandi-sama does not own Gundam Wing.

Chapter 4 Accepting The Unacceptable

Aluri let out a groan of relief as she sprawled out, flat on her belly, on the floor. She pressed one still sore cheek to the cold tiles of the small room she had been granted. She let the coldness seep into her to cool the fevered flesh that rested over her injuries.

The Doctor had been right. When she had been released from the chair she had a massive headache and now she felt like she was gaining a fever. Once one side was chilled, she would flip over on her back. Let it chill the bruised skin of her poor back. Of course she was also trying to cool her brain. Wufei had, though she hated to admit it even just to herself, gotten under her skin. Even when she had watched the show back in her own universe, his holier-then-thou attitude had really rubbed her raw even when she knew the reason behind it.

Even knowing the reasons, knowing what had happened to his wife because he wouldn't fight, it still really made her mad. Her argument for this irrational anger?...She was part Irish.

A pretty lame excuse but it was the one she was sticking with. After all the Irish were known mainly for their red hair, fiery tempers, and fierce stubbornness. And Aluri had all three, some showing more strongly then the others. She paused for a moment and pulled a lock of her strawberry blonde hair around to look at it.

Well...sort of all three.

But that was a technicality and Aluri never bothered herself with those. Too much of a headache and she already had one of those.

She groaned when she stopped to notice that she had already readily accepted the fact that she had died and ended up in an anime. A thought that would have definitely ended her up in the loony bin. Yes, she was being far to accepting of her situation, but in the end that was the only way she was going to survive. If she didn't accept her situation she would surely end up dead. One death had been enough. And if it turned out that this was just a dream made up by her over active imagination, then she would wake up and never speak a word of this dream to anyone.

She had to accept the fact that she had died and been placed into world she had watched on her TV as a little girl. Simple as that.

Heaving a sigh so large it made her ribs give a horrible scream of protest, Aluri eased herself on to her back, spreading her arms straight out to either side of herself. She closed her eyes and took steady breathes. She was still very shaken.

Going through that Scanner she had relived and re-felt everything in her life. Meaning she had gone through nearly nine years of beatings in the matter of minutes. And to finish it off...she got to feel the pain of the bullet ripping through her throat yet again. The sheer amount of pain had over whelmed her heart, causing it to screech to a halt for a minute in protest before thudding back to life. Her whole body was currently screaming from the pain, yelling insults and words no lady should say in anger at what it had been put through.

"Are you alright!?"

Aluri opened her eyes to look up at the concerned face of Quatre as he stood over her, a tray in hand. She hadn't heard the door slide open or smelled the food that he carried. Now that she could smell it, her stomach revolted and took an impression among of self control not to roll over and vomit. She knew instantly that she would not be able to eat whatever Quatre had brought her. Which was sad because it smelled wonderful!

She must have turned green in the face because the concern on his face became worry and panic.

"I'm fine. It's cool down here. I feel like my skin is hot. This feels good." she told him.

Quatre sat the tray on the table in the room and knelled next to her, laying a delightfully cool hand on her forehead. Aluri couldn't help closing her eyes in a moment of brief bliss.

"No wonder. You have a fever coming on." he told her.

"I wouldn't doubt it. Going through nine years of beatings in the matter of minutes and reliving my death...you try it once and see how well your body deals with the shock. Mine hates me at the moment." she said, though her tone was pretty much flat.

It held none of the contempt and anger she had probably should have been dealing out. Quatre though, still flinched at her words.

"I'm sorry. We didn't know about..." Quatre's voice trailed off, his eyes darting away from hers.

Aluri looked at him. It was easy to see the remorse and sympathy for her in his beautifully clear, blue eyes. Now Aluri felt like a jerk.

"Sit down, Quatre. I need to explain something to you before I manage to make both of us feel more like crap." she told him, patting the floor next to her.

Quatre stared at her but did as told, sitting on the floor next to her. Aluri didn't move an inch except to turn her head towards him and to fold her arms over her stomach, careful of her ribs.

"Listen, I know its not exactly understandable but sometimes I say things merely out of frustration with myself. That was one of those times. It was nothing against you or even the others. I understand why you did it and I can tell that you took it hard as well. Its not exactly something that someone can watch. And for future reference, you shouldn't take anything like that, that I say, so personally." she told him.

With that she looked back up at the ceiling and closed her eyes. If he could understand that and accept it, then they would get along just swimmingly.

"I will keep that in mind." he replied.

The two fell into silence for a moment which was fine with Aluri. She did her best reflecting and thinking when she had quiet. And it wasn't a strained silence. She doubted she could feel strained with Quatre. He was just too kind.

"May I ask you question?" Quatre asked.

"You just did." Aluri replied.

She peeked one eye open to find a smile curving the blonde boy's lips. She almost smiled herself but closed the eye before he saw her peeking at him. At least he knew a joke when he heard one.

"Go head." she added.

There was a pause as Quatre seemed to think on how to phrase it. Finally he settled on it.

"How come you are so wary with the others around, but here, just you and I, you are at east?" he asked.

He watched as her eyes opened instantly and locked on to him. He couldn't read the emotions swimming just out of reach, but there was one strong feeling he could feel from her; Understanding. She was good at hiding her emotions but she wasn't really trying to hide it all from him. It registered to Quatre then that even though he had only just met her...she already trusted him. At least just a little bit. Something that shocked him greatly, to say the least.

"I wouldn't say that I'm wary of them. I just...I just **know** them. I know what they're capable of and what they can do." she told him.

Quatre tried to stop her as she forced herself up into a sitting position. She simply waved his hand off and scooted back to lean against the frame of the bed.

"Each and everyone of them, if they had too, would put a bullet between my eyes. Of that, I am certain With the exception of Duo, I believe they would do so without batting an eye." she told him. A slow, almost not there, smile tilted the corners of her mouth.

"At least not on the outside. I have no doubt in my mind that they would regret it on the inside. No matter how tough they act they all have hearts. Though just how much they use them is still questionable. But for the sake of their mission, they would kill me." she explained.

Quatre thought that through. He could see what she meant. He had noticed the same thing himself. At least in the others he had spent one-on-one time with. Mainly Duo and Trowa. Try as they might to hide it, they all had hearts and felt some degree of remorse for those they had to kill.

"You, on the other hand, are different, Quatre." Quatre looked up at her as she spoke, blue eyes meeting grey. Though she didn't smile, he could see the warmth and kindness in her eyes as she gazed at him.

"You could never do it. It hurts you to even kill an enemy when you have no choice left to you. You are kind, humble, and truly the son of a pacifist. Which, in my opinion, is a good thing. Not all soldiers need to be cruel and heartless, or at least emotionless, to complete their mission." she told him, her voice soft. Quatre felt his cheeks grow warm from her praise.

"It is why, personally, you were always one of my favorites. No one in my world had a truly kind soul like you. They certainly never showed me the same amount of kindness in fifteen years that you have showed me in a mere hour. It is a quality more men should have." she added with a firm nod.

Quatre didn't know what to say. Thankfully Duo saved him from having to say anything.

"So if he's one of your favorites, whose your absolute favorite?"

Both turned to the door to find Duo leaning against the jam, his arms crossed as he watched them. There was a grin on his face too.

"Is it me?" he asked.

"Not even close." was her instant reply.

"You're kidding! You didn't even give it thought!" Duo exclaimed.

"I don't have to. I made the choice a long time ago. Let me pose a question for you...what makes you think my favorite is even a Gundam pilot?" Aluri replied.

Duo stopped at that, as if trying to process what that meant. As if to help him along she spoke again. She couldn't help stroking the fire she had just started.

"You know, where I came from...Zechs and Treize are very popular."

Duo snorted as if he highly doubt that.

"And for all you know...I could be playing for your team." she added.

At this Duo froze. He turned to stare at the girl, who didn't let anything show on her face. It was perfectly blank like she was completely serious. It wasn't just Duo. Shocked by this comment and the possibility that Aluri was homosexual, Heero and Trowa peered into the room from the open doorway. It was almost as if she knew they were there, and all three were staring at her like she had grown a second head. The thought obviously had not occured to the three.

Quatre's laughter though, ruined it and drew their attention to him.

"She's joking with you!" he informed them.

Three sets of eyes went from him to the girl, who raised eyebrow.

"You actually, even for a second, entertained the thought that I might prefer females over males? I have no problem with those kind of relationships and respect those who can go against the grain for the ones they love, but come now. Just automatically accepting that...that's insulting." she remarked.

Duo opened his mouth to reply but she held up one hand to stop him and shook her head.

"No, I don't want to hear it. Just leave." she told him, continuing to shake her head, as if she was disappointed.

"A girl can only take so much insult to her pride, and you are treding on thin ice." she added.

Just then Wufei stuck his head into the room, too. He did not look pleased to find his fellow pilots with her.

"Woman..."

Wufei was cut off before he could start.

"Aluriana."

All five boys stared at her.

"What was that?" Wufei asked.

"My name is not "woman" or "girl" or any other overly used pronoun you can come up with." she replied to Wufei's great displeasure.

"Aluriana Fabarene Araquette. My name is Aluri." she added.

The boys looked at each other and then at her. Duo tried sounding the full name out and failed.

"Your name is a mouth full." Duo remarked.

"Imagine having to write that out. I get annoyed having to sign anything. My mother had a wicked sense of humor." she replied.

With a sigh, Aluri dropped her head back on the bed. She had tried to block out the smell of the food but it was getting to her and she was sure any moment now, her stomach was going to revolt right up her throat and out her mouth.

"Can someone please take that food away. The smell of food is making my stomach rebel." she said.

"Oh! Sorry about that!" Quatre said getting to his feet. He picked up the tray of food and turned to Aluri.

"I will bring you something to bring down the fever." he told her before leaving the room, Aluri calling her thanks after him. Duo turned to Aluri then.

"So...who is your favorite?" he asked, back onto the original subject.

Aluri heaved a sigh and muttered a low but audible, "Men." before she shot Duo a look of exasperation. Slowly she got to her feet. She walked towards Duo, shooing him with her hands. As she came closer, Duo was forced to back up, pushing the other out the door. When they stood outside the door, she placed a hand on either side of the jam and looked him in the face.

"Though I fail to see how it is of any of your concern what man I favor over the other, no, neither Zechs nor Trieze hold a slight interest in my eyes. Yes my favorite happens to be among your allies, but that does not mean he is a Gundam pilot. And it certainly is **not** you. Good day, gentlemen." she told them, leaning back and pressing the button to close the door in their faces.

The boys stared at the door before looking at each other. In pain and with a fever she may be, but that came no where near to diminishing her sass.

-0-0-0-0-

"How is she?" Duo asked as Quatre walked into the room.

He had just been to check on Aluri, again, after having given her medicine to lower her fever near six hours before.

"Her fever is down and she's finally asleep but she still hasn't ate." Quatre replied. Wufei just waved this off.

"We need to decide what we are going to do with her. We can't leave her in space and we can't let her go. She knows too much." Wufei said, making it clear what his choice would be.

"The only thing we could do then is have her go with one of us." Duo remarked, refusing to suggest that they kill her.

It was painfully clear by the look on his face that Wufei would not be the one taking her. She would probably end up dead before long.

"Heero can't take her. Oz knows his face now and I no longer go to that school. She'd basically be stuck with me and my Sweeper crew 24/7." Duo replied.

"I suppose I could take her." Quatre mused. "But I'm not sure how the Maganac Corp will take it." he added.

"I'm not going with anyone."

All five boys turned to face the door finding Aluri standing there, a think blanket wrapped around her shoulders. Standing up it was easy to see how thin she was. Her ribs were visible through the over sized, white down shirt she was wearing whenever it was pressed taunt over her skin. Her fever had obviously broke, after burning off what little fat her body had stored, and her face was covered in a thin layer of sweat. She would need a shower before they moved anywhere. She had slight dark circles under her eyes and looked just about as tired as she probably felt.

But Wufei registered none of this.

"How did you...!?" Wufei started but Aluri waved it off, her eyes scanning the room.

"A new universe filled with technological advances beyond anything that could be found in mine and yet the one thing that remains constant is the sadly lacking inadequate ability of an electronic lock. Though far superior to any that can be found where I came from it is still a lock that is opened with a four digit code. That is a possibility of ten thousand different codes. It wasn't that hard to figure out." Aluri told him.

Though they hadn't locked Aluri in her room they had locked the doors leading to the main part of the base. There was a total of six doors between Aluri's room and the one they stood in currently and all opened with a different code. It seemed Aluri had a knack with locks.

"Father tried the same thing for keeping me **in** the house. I'll tell you its a lot harder getting **out** of a place rather then getting **in**." she added, idly before focusing her attention back on them.

"But as I said...I'm not going with any of you." she repeated.

"What are you talking about? You can't stay here." Duo said.

"And I can't go with any of you. At this moment, if I recall right and I do, each of you has a place your suppose to be and dragging me along will mess up the time line more then already is by me simply being here. Who knows what negative effects that could have on the out come of everything. No. It's best not to take the chance." she told him.

"Quatre, you and Duo are suppose to be in the Middle East with the Maganac Corp. Trowa and Heero are suppose to be in Sicily, together. Heero will know what for. And Wufei is suppose to be in China. There is someone you are suppose to meet and the meeting, quite frankly in my own opinion, will do you some good. None of these are happening at the moment." she added ignoring the glare from Wufei and the half questioning, half wondering look from Heero.

Aluri leaned heavily on the door jam, as if what little strength she had after the fever was slowly draining from her. Quatre re-framed from insisting she sit down or lay down. He had a feeling that even if asked nicely...she wouldn't do it.

"Not to mention that I simply refused to be carted about like a child. Its bad enough that at least one of you is constantly looking at me as if I'm the worse thing to come the human race since the plague." she remarked, all eyes going to Wufei who was not the least bit ashamed.

"Then what do you suggest we do? We can't leave you here." Duo retorted.

"You could simply leave me to my own devices on earth." she replied and was instantly met with protest from all five boys.

"What? You intend to imprison me for the rest of my life because of information you are afraid I will share when I haven't shared it with you? You do realize how daft people will think I am if I even attempt to explain any of this to anyone. All it would do is end me up locked in a room with padded walls, wearing a jacket that makes me hug myself, and strung out on drugs that would have me seeing dancing cupcakes and talking ponies with rainbow tails singing Its A Small World After All. Been there, done that, **am not** going back." was Aluri's clearly unhappy reply.

All five of the boys looked at each other. It was a vivid image she painted and she had a point. All of the boys knew that, but none were going to admit it. not that they needed to. They could see the knowledge in her eyes. She knew each of them enough to know what they were thinking. It dumb-founded them, had them searching for an argument that she couldn't counter. Trowa decided to save them all some time and cut straight to the chase since she didn't seem to have a fondness for beating around the bush.

"No. You will go with Quatre and Duo. Any arguments and we'll send you restrained and asleep." he said.

Her reaction was instant. Her eyebrows snapped down and together and her eyes narrowed. She stood up straight, her back going ridge and her fist balling at her sides. All five boys could see the building temper flaring to life in her pale eyes, making them burn the silver-white color of a hot flame. After dealing with being repressed by her father, she was clearly not going to let a couple of teenage boys tell her what to do. She was gearing up for a fight and it wasn't going to be pleasant.

Trowa braced his feet, ready for anything she could throw at him, rather it was snappy remarks or fists. He had a feeling, no matter how docile she usually acted, that it would be the latter. He also had a feeling that she would had hesitate to hit where it hurt. But then...it abated. She suddenly shoved the strong emotion back behind the iron wall that was her will. Her features relaxed and her expression went blank once more.

"Fine." she said coolly.

This took them all by surprise, even shocking Duo enough that his jaw dropped. It was a completely swing in her.

"Fine?" Duo repeated.

"Fine." she confirmed, turning to leave as if that ended their conversation.

"Hey! Wait a minute! You were just arguing with us on this! Now, all of a sudden, you agree?" Duo asked.

Aluri heaved a sigh, the action making her thin shoulder sag, before she looked over her shoulder.

"I said fine, I agreed. What more could you possibly want from me?" she asked.

"You're planning something, woman." Wufei retorted.

Aluri's eyes flashed and for a moment it looked as if...she was laughing at them. But it was a brief moment and then her face was schooled into a blank slate once more.

"And if I am? I agreed, simple as that. If you are so sure of your abilities to keep me under control, then why should it matter?" she said before turning and leaving the room.

There was no point in stopping her, or trying to lock her in her room since she would just bypass the locks once again. Duo stuttered over his words, trying to voice his confusion and annoyance when the door closed behind her, but finally just frowned.

"She's up to something alright. I could see the argument she was about to start and it looked like she was about to throw a punch." Duo said.

The others, even Quatre, agreed. She had agreed too quickly when it was clear she had been close to launching into a full out war. Trowa turned to Quatre and Duo.

"Keep an eye on her. She's clever." he told them.

"Yeah, we got it." Duo agreed.

He would watch her like a hawk because he had a feeling she was up to something. There was no telling the extent of the knowledge she held. Or, for that matter, how she could use it to her advantage. She was desperate for a freedom that had been denied her by her father and now them. Desperate people went to extents far beyond the normal person. There was no telling how far this clever, stubborn girl would go for a freedom she had never had.

For now, watching her was all they could do.

END

Kyandi: Sassy, sassy, sassy.

Aluri: Who made me that way?

Kyandi: Good point. Well we're working on the next chapter!

Aluri: Yippee.

Kyandi: Sarcasm is unbecoming of you.

Aluri: So I've been told.

Kyandi: Everyone ignore her and enjoy and review.

Aluri: We'll be back soon.

Kyandi: Bye, bye!


	5. Take Off

Kyandi: I'm back!

Aluri: Sorry we were gone so long.

Kyandi: I'm usually really busy in the summer, but I have a little more free time, as of late.

Aluri: So here we are.

Kyandi: Right. I have a new chapter for you before I have to move on to my next update.

Aluri: So no beating around the bush?

Kyandi: Nope. So everyone enjoy and review.

Aluri: Kyandi-sama does not own Gundam Wing.

Chapter 5 Take Off

"Exactly how are we going to do this?"

Duo's question made all five boys look up at the gundams. The mobile suits were built for a single passenger; the pilot. Yet somehow they had to find a way to safely take the girl with them without the use of a carrier shuttle.

"Well she is thin. She could probably be strapped into the harness with one of us." Quatre remarked, thinking of just how thin Aluri was.

"We don't know how her body will handle it." Heero remarked.

"He has a point. When you brought her here she was unconscious and it was with the use of a shuttle. You know how bad it is on the body in the gundams and we can't use a shuttle. It's too easy to target on reentry." Duo said, conceding to Heero's point.

"I believe in the right gundam, she can handle it." Quatre reasoned, faith in Aluri's strength clear in his voice.

"Well, which one then?" Duo asked.

"Heavyarms has the most strain in combat therefore has the most stability to even it out. It would be easiest on her in it with Trowa." Quatre replied, looking up at Trowa's gundam.

"And we can meet up on earth to take her from there." Duo added.

All boys turned to Trowa. Trowa was sure she could fit in his harness with him. He wasn't overly large himself and she had only grown thinner with her refusal to eat the last few days. But before he could reply another voice entered the argument as it had been doing an awful lot the last few days.

"I'd rather go with Quatre in Sandrock."

All five boys turned to Aluri. The girl had changed and was now wearing a pair of Heero's spare shorts which were so baggy and loose, they fell past her knees and had to be belted tightly at her thin waist. Over it she wore one of Quatre's smaller button down shirts, the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. Even fully buttoned up, the collar still fell to show her collar bones, the bandages covering the still healing bullet wound in her throat, and the beginnings of cleavage.

She kept yanking the collar farther close in an attempt to hide the latter. Her hair was pulled back, the red-blonde curls tied at the base of her skull and left to fall down her back. She was still wearing the worn grey ballet flats she had been wearing when Trowa and Quatre found her, simply because none of them had shoes small enough to fit her.

Her face was stubbornly set and she refused to look at Trowa. Trowa could almost believe she truly, irrationally, hated him. He couldn't tell if that was the case or not. Or perhaps she only trusted Quatre. She had said he was the only one she believed incapable of killing her.

Quatre instantly jumped in before anything else could be said that would set either her or Trowa off.

"Heavyarms is the safest gundam for you." Quatre told her.

"I don't care about safety. I'll be fine. I'm more resilient then you think." she replied.

Quatre shook his head firmly, being stern while trying to reason with her. In the past few days that Aluri had been with them, Quatre seemed to be the only one she would listen to. Now and then she would listen to Heero and rarely Duo, but she flat out refused to hear a word Wufei said and she avoided Trowa altogether.

"No, I think you'll be better off with Trowa. He'll bring you to Duo and I once on earth." Quatre assured her.

But the look on her face said loud and clear, she didn't like the idea.

Not one bit.

-0-0-0-0-

Aluri, despite all her protest, ultimately found herself in Heavyarms with Trowa. She had been decked out in a spacesuit and Trowa had set her in front of him, her back pressed to his chest so he could strap her in too. Luckily for him, she fit perfectly in front of him, sitting between his legs. He was able to reach around her for the controls and still be able to work the gundam right. He had to lean forward slightly to do so.

She didn't say a word, but Trowa could feel the ridgeness of her back. Though she had to sit as close to him as possible, she was still stiff as a board, her fingers wrapped around the straps of the harness. He couldn't tell if it was nervousness at the impending descent to earth or the close proximity to him, but either way he had a hard time working around her once her back stiffened up.

"Relax. I can't work around you when you're stiff as a board like that." he told her.

He could tell it wasn't easy for her, but slowly she relaxed against him. Trowa checked the systems noticing, idly, that when she wasn't stiff as a board, she fit perfectly against him. Her head, helmet included, fitted perfectly in the crook of his neck, her hips sitting snugly between his legs and her back curving against his chest perfectly.

Relaxed, with her back pressed against his chest, it was easy for him to move around her. It wasn't as hard as he figured it would be. She was being pretty docile. She did start fiddling with one of the many buckles on the harness though. It was nothing that would loosen it or cause it to snap open so he left her be.

When finally the hatch opened, Trowa eased them out into the black void of space. He felt, rather then heard the sharp intake of breath from Aluri. He leaned a little further forward and cut his eyes to the side. The angle and helmets only allowed him a view of part of her face. It was carefully blank but her eyes expressed more then enough.

In them he could see awestruck wonder and an instant love for space. Her eyes darted from screen to screen, taking in the vast darkness disrupted only by the other four gundams hurtling towards earth, and the colony they had just left. He left her to her stargazing and turned to check another read out. He looked up when he felt her jolt against him.

The cause was the sudden appearance of Quatre and Duo on the interface screen. It was clear she hadn't been expecting them to appear and block her view of space. She leaned back heavily against his chest to focus on the two boys and Trowa realized that until that moment she had been putting all her weight against the harness.

"Here's the coordinates we'll meet at. Its about a half day trip from your landing point." Quatre said, a map with white dots marking the two point.

Trowa nodded. He could manage the slight detour. Of course Heero, who was currently occupying a space behind Duo's seat because of the lack of his gundam, would then go with Trowa. Aluri's orders though they were, none of them had a problem with the arrangements. Wufei appeared then, his screen appearing just below Duo's and Quatre's.

"Try not to cause us trouble, woman." Wufei told Aluri.

Trowa expected Aluri to huff up as most women would of but she didn't let Wufei ruffle her feathers.

"You try to not be an antisocial, arrogant brat and I'll try not to cause trouble. Sound good to you?" was her curt reply.

That got a laugh from Duo but Wufei didn't find it funny.

"I will kill you, woman, if you get in the way." he growled at her. Aluri leaned towards the screen.

"No you won't. Do no forget, Chang Wufei, that I know you better then you know yourself. You won't purposely kill any woman. Your honor and morals won't allow for it. And you would rather die then go against those." she replied before leaning back.

"Now seriously maiming me is a different matter. But you won't kill me. Not you, Chang Wufei." she added, giving him a wide grin. "And see...at least **I** have the manners to call you by your name."

With that Aluri gave him a wide, perfectly fake, grin. Instead of Aluri huffing, Wufei did. He said the first thing he could think of.

"And it was you who said Winner was the only one not capable of killing you." Wufei remarked.

"Ha! I knew it! The four of you were listening in on us!" Aluri exclaimed, catching them red handed.

"Its impolite to listen in on a lady's conversations, you dirty, little eavesdroppers." she added.

Wufei, failing to come up with anything else to say, simply dropped the communications between the Shenlong and Heavyarms.

"Chicken." Aluri muttered, when his screen went black.

"Aluri, that's not very lady like." Quatre told her.

"I said I was a lady, not lady **like**. There's a difference, Quatre. And he was asking for it. Giving me a hard time simply because I am a female and he believes that means I'm beneath him." Aluri replied.

She shook her head and let out a soft, but clear "tsk".

"You weren't giving the guy an easy time either." Duo replied.

"You get what you give. Haven't any of you ever heard the saying, "You reap what you sow" or "Treat others how you want to be treated"?" Aluri asked.

Of course all of them had heard the phrases at least once in their lives.

"If he would at least call me by my name, I wouldn't be so mean. But he won't. Instead he calls me, "woman". Like he doesn't think I'm an actual person. I've had enough of that." she added.

Trowa glanced at her. He had pretty much been paying more attention to piloting the gundam then to the conversation, but her last few sentences had drawn his attention back to her.

Her jaw was sat and her eyes were hard as she covered all emotion. The others could tell just as well as he could, that she was referring to her father. Qutare quickly changed the subject.

"Aluri."

Aluri snapped out of the state and turned her eyes to the blonde.

"What do you think of space, so far?" he asked.

Trowa had been watching her and saw her eyes light up.

"It's breath taking. I had always been intrigued with space and stars, but space travel, where I come from, is sorely lacking. Just getting to the moon, or taking a short trip into space seems to drain global funding and half the time ends in casualties. So it's dangerous as well." she told them.

"Really!?" Duo exclaimed. Aluri nodded.

"My world was not as technologically advance as this one. We lack many of the things you find common. It's confusing being here because of that." she explained.

"Then I guess you'll be glad to go back." Duo remarked.

"No. I **never** want to go back. I had nothing there. Perhaps I can change that now. A new start." Aluri replied, surprising the boys.

"I'd rather tough it out here in a world I do not completely know or understand, then to go back to the one where I am absolutely nothing at all. Right now I feel closer to my mother then ever before. She adored space." she added.

"You really care for your mother, don't you?" Quatre asked.

"Of course. She gave her health, and ultimately her life, to give me life. She knew, long before her passing, that I would literally be the death of her and yet she loved me unconditionally." Aluri replied, the pride in her mother evident in her voice.

Quatre didn't like how she spoke and protested instantly.

"Despite what you father said or believed, you did not kill your mother." he told her sternly.

The sad smile that spread across the girl's face held sorrow and sad understanding so deep it broke each boy's heart, no matter how deep down they buried said hearts.

"That is where you are wrong. My mother, Fabirene McCullen Ariquette, had been born with poor and weak health. Every doctor she had ever seen told her that if she naturally had a child then it would kill her. But my mother loved children. She wanted one of her own. Wanted to feel that child grow in her...to give it life. Even if that meant giving hers up in turn. When I was born, her health steadily declined. There was nothing doctors could do to save her. So yes...I did kill my mother." Aluri told them, her voice steady despite the painfully tight grip she had on the harness.

"I am many things, but I am no fool. I know what my birth, what my existence, caused. Which is why I could never hate my father. His only fault was loving my mother to the point of it driving him to complete insanity to lose her. To him I really wasn't his daughter, but a monster who had taken the love of his life from him. If I ever find a man who loves me even half as much, I will be a very lucky girl." she added.

By this point she was no longer looking at the screens. Her eyes stared straight ahead into nothing. Silence fell over the boys, giving Aluri the chance to gather herself. Trowa could actually feel the slight trembling of the girl as she tried to calm herself.

"Your mother sounds like she was a very kind woman." Quatre said finally.

The fond, brilliant smile that lit Aluri's face was completely genuine and so soft it lit her face with beauty. It brought out the dimples in each cheek and lit her eyes. She truly loved her mother with everything in her thin, young body.

"Oh she was. She befriended everyone she met and was never above lending a helpful hand to those in need. No matter who they were." Aluri replied.

"And you share her name." Quatre pointed out.

"And that is why I said my mother had quite the sense of humor. Every woman in her family, my grandmother and her mother and grandmother before her, all had the name Fabirene. It was said to be a name of grace, kindness, a name for a truly pure and loving soul. So each first born girl is given the name in hopes that she will become exactly that. I have great pride in the name but I believe it is a joke with me because I am nothing like my mother." Aluri replied.

"I believe you are." Quatre told her.

Aluri shook her head.

"No. My mother, the real Fabirene, would have never harmed a fly. I will do whatever I must for the sake of what I believe in. If that means dragging others down, I'll do it. I am incapable of the care and kindness she had for others. I will fight, claw and bite if I must, and tear at those in my way. Like I said, I will always be able to take another kick in the teeth, no matter how painful, and come back swinging. A vengeance streak a mile wide." she assured him.

Then her eyes narrowed in a thoughtful way.

"Remember that, because one day, you may actually have to put a bullet between my eyes."

The tone she used was so sure, so stern, that none of the boys argued with her. How could they argue with the foreshadowing that one day she would be a threat to them all.

-0-0-0-0-

The rest of the trip towards earth was carried out in silence, Aluri completely silent and the boys too caught up in her warning to try to talk. When they finally entered the earth atmosphere, Aluri's hands instantly flew to Trowa's knees, gripping them almost as hard as she had gripped the armrest of her chair during the Scan.

The pressure on a person's body was no laughing matter and to someone untrained in dealing with the force, it was a horrendous experience. To her credit, Aluri endured it, though Trowa was sure her nails would manage to slice through her gloves and his suit and into his skin. She uttered not a sound and Trowa swore, for a second, that she was holding her breath. Aside from that, she handled the descent well.

The actual landing was a little different. Trowa smiled to himself when he heard a small shaky squeak from her. By the time they had landed and Trowa had hid Heavyarms from detection, Aluri was pressed firmly back against him, her fingers still gripping his knees. The moment the hatch was open and Trowa freed her from the harness, she flew out of his lap and out of the cock pit, yanking the helmet off her head to take a deep breath of fresh air.

Trowa couldn't contain the smile. She liked, even loved being in space. She just didn't like the descent from space to earth. When he stepped out on the hatch and removed his helmet, he found her staring at the world around them while taking deep breaths. They were currently hidden in a thick forest, bird song filling their ears along with the sounds of other creatures moving about. It was cool under the tree tops and even Trowa had to admit it was peaceful, and it seemed peace was something that been sorely lacking in Aluri's life.

"We'll rest here for a while. Make sure no one comes to investigate." Trow told her.

Aluri was already working her way out of the space suit, the helmet sitting at her feet. She didn't say a word and Trowa left her to her removal of the suit while he checked the locations of the other pilots. He kept one eye on her but once the suit was off, she merely sat on the edge of the hatch, her back to him, her legs hanging over the side. Her long hair, tied though as it was, fell around her, pooling on the hatch behind her. With the sun shining down on her, the red blazed to life in her hair, lending her temporarily pale skin, some color. Trowa turned back to the screen when he reached Quatre.

"Trowa! Where's Aluri?" Quatre asked instantly.

"She's in front of me. It seems re-entering the earth's atmosphere was truthfully a little rough on her." Trowa replied.

Beyond the screen he got a "Humph" in reply to his comment. Trowa leaned to the side to peer around the screen at Aluri who was now pulling her hair over one shoulder, hiding her face from him. Trowa just leaned back and focused on Quatre.

"We'll rest here for a while. A precaution in case there are an OZ agents around." Trowa told the blond male.

"Understood. See if you can get her to eat. She hasn't eaten anything since she came to this world." Quatre told him.

Trowa nodded and ended the connection. He grabbed the bag he had stuffed behind his seat and joined Aluri on the hatch. He sat next to her, close enough for his arm to brush hers, and sat the bag between them. Instantly Aluri scooted as far away from him as she could, edging around the corner of the hatch and pressing her side up against the gundam. Trowa turned to look at her, but she had pulled her hair over her shoulder, freeing it of it's tie, creating a pale, fiery barrier between them. He simply turned to the bag, pulling out food, holding out one prepared box lunch to Aluri.

Maybe food would ease the thick tension between them.

Alas that didn't help.

Aluri peeked through her hair, peering at the box lunch, obviously eyeing it. Trowa could swear he even heard her stomach growl, but she didn't move to touch it. She simply moved impossibly closer to the gundam, pressing her side firmly to the metal, and crossing her arms. She was basically leaning herself into a corner, just to get as far from him as she could. She wasn't going to take the food from him, so he sat it beside her. If she got hungry enough she would eat. It didn't make any difference to him. It would be her own choice, but she was so wary of him! And he didn't really know why.

She had said she knew how they were and that that was why she was wary of him, Duo Wufei, and Heero, but she had at least spoken to the others. She hadn't said a word to him. He had spoken to her, but she had avoided speaking directly to him. It was like she was trying to avoid having anything to do with him. He wasn't sure what he had done to specially warrant this kind of far as he knew he hadn't done anything to her. And he wasn't exactly sure how this made him feel. He certainly didn't like it. Especially since she seemed so comfy and at ease with Quatre.

He and Quatre were somewhat friends, got along fine. That should have said something about Trowa. Quatre obviously believed he was a good person, but Trowa wondered about the blond's judgment now that he had met Aluri. Aluri didn't seem to share the same opinion as Quatre. She seemed to truly be almost scared of Trowa. Conscious, she had spent two, maybe three, hours around him. Yet she had already deemed him a threat and a danger to her. He didn't even know what to say to her half of the time.

What could a guy say to a girl who knew more about him than he knew about himself?

Needless to say the two sat in an awkward silence, Trowa eating and Aluri running her hands through her hair. If Quatre had been there he would have known what to say to Aluri. Trowa didn't. And to be truthful...he didn't understand why it mattered to him. He spent plenty of time in Catherine's presence, not talking, and it was never awkward with her. Myabe because for once...the other person wanted **nothing** to do with him. Didn't want to say anything to him, where all Catherine did was talk.

Aluri, though, just didn't know what to say or do. Trowa was, by far, the hardest to deal with. Heero was always pretty stoic, but at least he acted on his emotions and could be coaxed into talking or displaying said emotions. Wufei was simply just unsociable. A choice on his behalf. If he ever decided to change that quality about himself and improve his attitude, she would be more then happy to talk to him. Quatre and Duo were the easiest to get along with. They made it easy. But Trowa...Trowa was just so...hard! It wouldn't be impossible to befriends the brunette. She had seen both Quatre and Catherine do it, even Heero.

Aluri had never had to work to befriend someone. She had never befriended anyone before. She slept, she watched more of the show. The only time she had ever had to mingle with others was when her father had parties or get-togethers and it was expected for her to be present. Even then, she had been expected to stand there, silent. And now? She had no idea what to say or do.

Lack of people skills sucked.

But she also **knew** Trowa.

She knew how he was, how he acted, what he could do, and most importantly, what he **would** do if he thought for a single moment that she posed a threat to him or the others. She had died once before. It shouldn't scare her to face death again, but the thought of Trowa turning on her with the intent to kill...scared the living day lights out of her.

So yes, in a way, he scared her.

She looked into those expressionless eyes of his and saw the same gaze her father gave her whenever he came after her. Of course Aluri knew Trowa was different from her father.

She **knew** this but she felt that spike of irrational fear when she looked into his eyes. It was an automatic response she couldn't stop.

Not yet.

Aluri glanced at Trowa through her hair...and froze. The boy had finished his food and was flat out staring at her. She pretended not to notice, while pressing herself further sideways into the gundam. But try as she might, she couldn't ignore it. Aluri had never been very good at pretending like she hadn't seen or noticed something. She really did have to work on that. That being said, she didn't like it.

Now that she knew he was watching her, she could feel her skin crawl. It was one of those feelings someone got when they felt like something was watching them from a dark alley or something. She was half tempted to jump from the hatch into a tree, just to put tree limbs between them.

Finally she could take it no more.

Trowa was shocked when suddenly her head whipped up and she gave him a look that clearly yelled, "Stop staring at me!". He hadn't really noticed he was staring. Of course he was looking at her. he hadn't meant to stare though. Especially since he had been caught. For a moment their eyes locked on each others'. Aluri looked away first, turning her eyes to the bit of sky she could see through the tree tops. Trowa watched her for a second before looking away too.

To say this was awkward was an understatement.

Thankfully Trowa was saved by the aerial scanner on his gundam beeping. He got to his feet and checked it. From the layout on the screen, the area around them was clear. If he moved carefully, they could make it to Quatre, Duo, and Heero in a full day's trip. Trowa turned to Aluri who was now standing, watching the trees around them. Trowa gathered her untouched food, tucking it away with the spacesuits, and took his seat.

"Time to go." he said simply.

Aluri turned to him, eyeing him. She would have to sit in the same spot, but now there were no space suits between them now. Trowa looked up at her, finding the tiniest hint of a pink blush on her cheeks. Was she shy or embarrassed? Just seeing that blush brought back the conversation between her, Quatre, and Duo over who her favorite was. Could it possibly be him? Was there even a remote possibility? Of course if there was, Trowa didn't know what to think. Though he like to think that Aluri had a more sensible head on her shoulders.

That last time a girl had liked him, it hadn't turned out very well in the end.

"Come on." he urged.

He didn't know if he imagined it or not, but to him it looked like Aluri heaved a silent sigh. Without anymore hesitation, she took her seat in front of him, but she held her back firmly straight so it wouldn't touch his chest. That would change soon. The moment the harness was strapped in place and he tightened the straps, she was forced to lean back into his chest. Without helmets and suits in the way, her head fit right in the crook of his neck, her hair tickling his skin. When he leaned froward he caught a small whiff of cinnamon spice, lilies, summer grass, and even the faint smell of Quatre's personal scent.

The latter was from the shirt, but the rest was all her. An odd mix. Especially since she had spent the last few days unconscious or with a fever. But it was a nice smell. The summer grass reminded him of the circus troope he had been calling home, when they had taken root in a field of tall grass. Almost always, when they stopped there was the smell of grass in the air. It was one of the things he liked about working with the troope. The cinnamon spice triggered some distant, old memory of fresh made cinnamon rolls, that Trowa couldn't quite grasp. It was a fleeting memory with the fuzzy face of a smiling woman. It was a strange sensation.

Aluri on the other hand wasn't thinking about smells, though she liked Trowa's, but rather a different sense altogether; touch.

Without the thick, heavy spacesuits between them, Aluri could feel every plane of Trowa's muscled chest against her back. She felt so small in his lap, his arms moving around her to work the controls. She felt small and fragile. So yes...she was embarrassed. She had blushed because she wasn't all that comfortable being close to others.

That, and she knew she would be dwarfed by him and that was embarrassing to her considering all her big talk. It was a stupid thing, really, but everyone has moments like that, or so Aluri thought. That aside, she didn't know what to do. She was still tired, but too hyper aware and strung-out to even consider sleeping. For the moment she folded her hands in her lap and stared at them. It was at moments like this that she wished she had one of her historical fantasy novels Reading, at least, would take her mind from the time and place even if she couldn't take her body with it.

She let her mind wander back to the last one she had just finish reading before the whole mess she now found herself in. Thanks to her photographic memory, she could remember the whole book, cover to cover, and her mind conjured up the plot then. She had never been a fan of romance novels. They bored her. Though the details of each one may differ, the general plot was the same. Boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in love, something dramatic and awful happens, people get mad, but boy still gets girl in the end.

Boring!

Aluri preferred Greek tragedies like Medea, better. Now **that** was a plot line she could follow!

The whole time she thought all of this, she fought the closing of her eyelids. Thinking about her books had calmed her and now her tiredness was kicking in. It was becoming hard to keep her eyes open. She knew she wouldn't be able to stay awake for much longer. Bit by bit, she relaxed back against Trowa, fighting with all her might to stay awake. But her body wanted sleep, screw what her mind wanted.

When Trowa glanced down at Aluri ten minutes later he, surprisingly, found her asleep. Her head had fallen back onto his shoulder, and her lips were parted slightly as she slept. At least he didn't have to feel awkward about not talking to her. Trowa stiffened slightly when Aluri's head rolled in her sleep and her forehead pressed into the side of his neck. He could feel her warm breath on his chin when he looked down. It was a bit distracting but he wasn't going to wake her up. Perhaps she would sleep the rest of the trip.

Maybe.

END

Kyandi: And there we go! Personally I like Medea better too.

Aluri: It's a good tragedy.

Kyandi: That it is, but not everyone has our taste.

Aluri: Who cares?

Kyandi: Well since they are my beloved readers...I do.

Aluri: Wimp.

Kyandi: Whatever! Anyway, everyone enjoy and review.

Aluri: We'll be back soon.

Kyandi: After while, crocodile.


	6. Belly Dancer Chic

Kyandi: Howdy everyone! Sorry we've been missing for a while.

Aluri: Kyandi-sama's internet service is MIA at the moment.

Kyandi: Right, so I'm having to use the public library or piggy back off my friends' wi-fi for now.

Aluri: You're a-

Kyandi: Call me a bum and I will make sure your life is heck. I can do it!

Aluri: My lips are sealed.

Kyandi: Good girl. Now everyone, please enjoy and review!

Aluri: Kyandi-sama does not own Gundam Wing.

Chapter 6 Belly Dancer Chic

Trowa almost got his wish.

Almost.

About twenty minutes from the location Quatre, Duo, and Heero were waiting at, Aluri started twitching in her sleep. Trowa was certain she was about to start one of her trashing fits she had been having in her sleep. Thankfully, instead she jolted awake, her eyes wide as they scanned the small cockpit. It was clear that she had just had a nightmare. Trowa idly wondered what the nightmare had been about but he didn't ask and she didn't offer. She simply settled back and remained quiet.

When he finally landed and released her again, she was out of the hatch faster than it could completely open.

Aluri instantly shaded her eyes and peered through the sand flying into her face. It was exactly how she had seen it in the show. Sand as far as the eyes could see with bluffs of stone mixed in. Her eyes scanned the surrounding sand and stone. If she hadn't known they were there and what she was looking for, she might have missed the mobile suits camouflaged there. But she saw them, just like she saw the men that watched her from their hatches. Aluri understood their caution but she knew they wouldn't hurt her. Especially not with Quatre on her side.

Speaking of which...

"Aluri!"

Aluri turned as Quatre, goggles in place over his eyes, came rushing to her side, Duo and Heero hot on his heels.

"Are you alright?" Quatre asked when he reached her.

He had to pitch his voice over the wind for Aluri and Trowa to hear.

"You came rushing out pretty quick." Duo added.

Before Aluri could open her mouth, Trowa spoke from where he still sat in his gundam.

"She's been doing that every time I let her out."

Aluri diverted her eyes when Quatre, Duo, and Heero looked at her.

"Well its fine now. We'll take over from here. Thanks for bringing her, Trowa." Quatre said, turning to Duo and Heero.

Without a single word from either boy, Heero passed Trowa, squeezing intot he small space behind Trowa's seat, thought the suits left very little space for him. Aluri didn't understand why she couldn't of done the same thing instead of sitting in the harness with Trowa. It was completely unfair in her opinion. With farewells uttered, the hatch closed. Quatre took a light hold on her arm, pulling her away from the gundam before it took off. Aluri followed, squinting up in the swirling sand of the storm to watch it vanish. The sand blowing into her eyes was starting to sting and her eyes started watering because of it.

"Come on. Lets get you out of the sandstorm." Quatre said, leading her away by tugging on her sleeve. "Just don't rub your eyes. It'll make it worse."

Aluri nodded, keeping her mouth shut so not to accidentally swallow sand. It didn't sound like it would taste very good. Quatre sat Aluri in the seat of his gundam's cockpit and gave her a damp handkerchief to wipe her eyes.

"Perhaps I should get some goggles too. Would make it easier." she remarked as she cleaned her eyes, Quatre smiling in reply.

"I'll see what I we can do about that." he replied.

He watched her clean sand from her face, eyeing her in silence.

"Aluri did Trowa say or do something to you?" he asked suddenly.

Aluri looked at his concerned face and instantly, and rapidly, shook her head.

"Not at all. We never really spoke actually." she assured him.

She was pretty sure she knew what his next question would be.

"Then why were you in such a hurry to jump out of his gundam?"

Aluri heaved a sigh.

"As I've told you, I know how all five of you are. I can handle Wufei's abrasive, anti-social ways and Heero's lack of social skills, but Trowa...being in that kind of inclosed space with him...I don't know what to do. It's awkward." she told him. "Not to mention that its beyond unfair that he has to be over cautious with me and strap me into the harness with him, even on earth, but he lets Heero ride in the space behind his seat."

Quatre, despite himself, couldn't help a smile at that and the slight pout on her face.

"He's not that bad, Aluri." he insisted.

"Just don't mind me. I have my reasons but that's beside the point." Aluri said, waving one hand.

Quatre looked like he wanted to argue but he was slowly starting to learn that arguing with Aluri was a waste of breath. Aluri handed back the handkerchief.

"Master Quatre, we have an opening." came the brisk voice of the leader of the Maganac Crops.

Quatre had Aluri move to the space behind his seat and climbed into the now empty seat.

"Alright, we'll be going now." he replied.

Aluri leaned over the seat to look at the screens as Duo replaced a corner of the screen.

"Hey Aluri! You say you know what's going to happen, right? Well then why send me and Quatre-"

"It's "Quatre and I", Duo."

"To an area invested with Oz soldiers?" Duo finished as if she had not said a word.

"Its all for a good reason, believe me. You'll see why by the end of tomorrow." Aluri remarked cryptically.

With that she leaned back, bending her knees to make more room for herself.

"You know when you do that it makes me wonder if there's more trouble ahead." Duo remarked.

Aluri peered over the seat. She had a serious look on her face as she looked at him.

"There's always more trouble ahead. That's life. Especially since you're gundam pilots." she told him.

Aluri leaned on the back of Quatre's seat and watched the screens that gave her a view of the sand covered world beyond. Just like in the show they were led into an underground base, Duo commenting on this in surprise. Aluri remained quiet as they entered the base. When Quatre opened his hatch and climbed out, turning back to help her out by offering his hand. Aluri took his hand, stepping out and onto the walk way, dusting sand out of her hair and off her borrowed clothes.

"You'll get use to the sand." Quatre told her.

"I highly doubt it. I'm from a hill country area. Sand is not common in this amount." Aluri replied.

Quatre smiled in reply to the comment. He was saved from having to answer by the arrival of a short, older man.

"Good of you to come Quatre!" he said, greeting the blond boy fondly.

Quatre turned to return the greeting happily.

"It's been a while Commander Sada Ul." Quatre replied as Rashid joined them.

Aluri stood by, quietly, listening to Quatre as he thanked the older man for the help of the Maganac Corps. As they spoke, Aluri looked around them.

"That troublesome Oz! Using the colonies as a shield in irresponsible!" Sada Ul exclaimed, drawing Aluri back to the conversation.

It was clear he was highly displeased with the way things had gone. Not that Aluri could blame him. She hadn't been pleased the first time she had watched the show.

"We're to blame, for failing to stop them." Quatre replied, accepting responsibility for the way things turned out.

"Yeah, we're totally to blame." Duo agreed.

Aluri was only half paying attention to the conversation and was talking before she could think her words through.

"Not really. Oz is an under handed organization, true, but Lady Une wouldn't have actually gone through with it. Treize wouldn't of allowed it. The meaningless loss of civilian life isn't appealing to him. Lady Une is just unhinged from reality." Aluri said, idly, making all of the males look at her as she looked around.

"Aluri?" Quatre asked, catching her attention.

"Lady Une was the one that made the bluff against the colonies and Heero called her out on it. Treize wasn't happy about it, I assure you, which is why they have not made another move against the colonies. Bluffs are a part of war strategy, and, sadly, they work sometimes." Aluri told him.

"And you are, dear?" Sada Ul asked.

"Aluriana de Fabarene Araquette. Please call me Aluri. It is a pleasure to meet you, sir." Aluri said, giving the man a respectful bow, which caused him to smile.

"Aluri will be traveling with me for now." Quatre explained. "She was injured, her clothes ruined, and we had to dress her in spares."

Aluri looked down at her clothes. She didn't think it was that bad. It covered what had to be covered, so it worked.

"I'm sure we can find something for her." Sada Ul said, chuckling as he did. "Come now, my dear!"

Sada Ul gestured for Aluri to follow and she did so. He took her hand, tucking it into the crook of his arm, patting her hand as he talked, explaining to her what the base was for. Though she already knew what it was for, she listened politely and nodded as he spoke.

"Master Quatre, we shall get started on the mobile suit repairs." Rashid said.

"Yeah thanks. Oh, and Rashid..." Quatre started, but the older man just nodded.

"I know. We will take care of both gundams."

Quatre turned to Duo then, who was walking up to join them.

"I hope that's fine with you." Quatre said.

"That's fine by me. I appreciate the help." Duo replied, truly grateful.

By this point, Aluri was being led away. She couldn't very well deny the old man when he was being so kind but she wasn't use to such kindness. She simply fell into line with the others, being lead up a long flight of stairs that led to a trap door in the floor of a house. There they were able to step out into the sunshine of the day once more. It was there they found a lively festival in full swing. Aluri was unable to say a single word before Rashid had two young ladies escort her away to be dressed in better fitting clothes.

Quatre and Duo smiled as they watched the awkwardly blushing girl vanish among the crowd. With the girl in capable hands, the two gundam pilots retreated indoors to talk.

"Its weird, having her around. What with the way she knows things." Duo remarked.

"It is odd, true, but it might be for the best." Quatre replied as he propped open a window shutter to let sunlight and fresh air in to the room.

"I wonder. She's set the two of us into an area crawling with Oz soldiers." Duo replied.

Quatre sat down on the bed, thinking over any possible reason for the girl doing what she was doing. He didn't really know her, so he couldn't really say.

"I think she has good intentions." he insisted, wanting to believe the best of the girl.

"I hope so. When it comes down to it, she knows more about us than we know about her. In the end we're all going to wonder." Duo said.

Quatre heaved a sigh. Duo had a point, of course. Especially since Aluri wouldn't reveal to them how she knew what she knew.

"We're always going to wonder if she's helping us or someone else." Quatre agreed.

Duo nodded. Aluri was something they didn't understand. Her motives weren't clear and she had no reason to want to help them. All they had to go by was her word. And in their world, someone's word wasn't always what it was cracked up to be. That didn't mean the girl couldn't lie. If it suited her purpose, she could.

The real question was...what was her reason?

"We should go find her." Quatre said, getting to his feet.

Duo joined him and the two went in search of the young girl. They found her as the center of a crowd's attention. Some of the ladies had dressed her in a tub top and the sheer, wrap-around skirts of a bell dancer. She had anklets, bracelets, and a belt of bells on, that rang with every step she took. Her hair was tied in a complex pattern, ribbons of silver, green, and blue to match her skirt, tying it in place. She was barefoot but that didn't stop her from dancing along side the ladies, who were showing her the steps to a dance.

Aluri caught on quickly, to the joy of those watching, and to her own joy.

A large smile was curving Aluri's lips as she danced, the bells chiming in time to her steps. She seemed to be enjoying herself greatly, and was a very graceful dancer.

"Wow! Didn't think I'd see this. She doesn't seem like the dancing type." Duo remarked.

"No, but she is a beautiful dancer." Quatre replied.

The boys watched as the tempo increased and Aluri and the ladies sped up in their dance. Aluri moved as if she had been dancing the dance her whole life. When the dance came to an end, those watching clapped. Aluri was laughing with the ladies as one tucked a flower into her hair.

Aluri had always loved to dance. Just as much as she loved to read, but her father had never allowed her to. She was happy now to be able to dance without the fear of her father's anger. She wasn't too crazy about the outfit, for it showed off the scars and bruises on her body which drew questioning looks, but she could deal with that.

"That was beautiful, Aluri!"

Aluri turned as Quatre and Duo came her way. She felt her cheeks grow warm when she realized they must have been watching her the whole time. She hadn't stopped to think about those watching her. She had just been too happy to dance without ridicule.

Quatre and Duo both smiled when they saw the slight blush that washed over her cheeks. It went a ways to making her cheeks somewhat match her hair. She shift her eyes away from them, scratching one cheek.

"Thank you." she replied.

"I didn't know you danced." Quatre remarked.

"Normally I don't. My father didn't approve of it. But I do like to dance when I can." Aluri said.

"I do hope that this wasn't the outfit they chose for you." Rashid said, smile on his face.

Aluri looked down at her outfit. She wasn't fond of how much it showed, but she kind of liked the skirt. Especially when the bangle and bells chimed together.

"It was just something they gave me to wear while they located something a little more covering in my size." Aluri informed him. "Truthfully though, I do hope they allow me to keep this. I actually really like it. It's almost like I'm wearing belly dancer chic."

Rashid nodded, glad to hear it. He gave her a smile and laid a hand on the top of her head.

"I am sure they will. But perhaps, for now, it would be best if we found you some shoes." he offered.

Aluri nodded in thanks. Rashid asked one woman for a pair of shoes and she came back with a pair of slipper-like, black shoes. Aluri brushed sand off the bottom of her feet before sliding on the shoes. Though she kind of liked the feeling of warm sand between her toes, she was grateful for the shoes. She had just gotten her new shoes on when Rashid was called away by one of his men.

Aluri looked up, watching him walk away. She knew what it meant. Oz soldiers were on their way to the cheerful village. While they waited for Rashid to return, Quatre lead Aluri and Duo down the street, the three stopping now and then to grab some food or when Aluri saw something she wanted a closer look at. She had always been fascinated by the jewelry of Middle Eastern countries. It was always so pretty.

Rashid found them about twenty minutes later, telling them of the Oz soldiers. Both Quatre and Duo looked at Aluri who had a somber look on her face. There was no doubt in their minds that she had known this was coming and had sent them here anyway. Quatre wanted to believe she had a good reason and was going to ask her about it the moment he got a chance.

"We could leave Aluri out here." Duo suggested.

"Me? Why?" Aluri asked.

"I think I understand." Quatre said thoughtfully. "It would good to have someone out here, watching in person and the Oz soldiers don't know anything about Aluri."

Aluri could see their point, but she had a point of her own to make.

"One problem with that." Aluri said, making the three males look at her. "I stick out like a sore thumb. It's obvious that I'm not from here."

It was a good point, but the village got visitors all the time. And just because she didn't look like the villagers, didn't mean she couldn't have been raised in the village. Quatre explained this to Aluri and after a little more convincing, they got her to agree. Aluri accepted a shawl from one of the women, to cover her injuries and joined Sada Ul. Quatre and Duo vanished underground with the Maganac Corp. Not long after, the soldiers showed up in the village. Aluri, her hand tucked into the crook of Sada Ul's arm, stood beside the short man as he spoke with the soldiers.

"Is this some kind of festival?" one soldier asked.

"Some nomadic friends stopped by the village. Is something wrong?" Sada Ul asked.

"I was hoping you would let our troops rest, and maybe share some of your food and water." the soldier said.

"We'll do what we can. Won't we, dear?" Sada Ul said, looking up at Aluri as he pat her hand.

Aluri smiled at the man and nodded. The solider eyed her, but didn't say a word. He just nodded and thanked Sada Ul.

"Still, you're quite intimidating." Sada Ul said, looking around at the armed soldiers.

"I am not quite sure comfortable with all of the firearms." Aluri admitted.

Sada Ul pat her hand again, assuring her it would be fine. It was best to appear as fragile and nondescript as possible. The less attention she drew, the better.

"We've been informed that rebellious, Middle East troops are hiding out in this area." the solider said.

Aluri plastered a fake, surprised look on her face, raising a hand to her mouth to cover a gasp before looking down at Sada Ul with a faked look of worry.

"How dreadful! I do hope that isn't the case." Aluri said.

"I do as well, Miss. We're here for precautionary purposes." the solider replied.

"Well, we shall do what we can." Sada Ul told the man before looking up at Aluri. "No worries, my dear. Why don't you go back to your business. I will come find you if something changes."

Aluri smiled at him and nodded. She bowed her head to the soldier before turning to a woman Sada Ul had gestured over. The two walked away. Aluri kept her eyes peeled as she and the woman went about shopping, pretending to stay busy while Aluri secretly watched the soldiers. Not that she needed to. She knew they were planting bombs all over the village. Many soldiers stopped to look her way, but Aluri pretended not to notice them.

She knew she was going to stick out. She looked every bit her mixed French and Irish lineage. She was bound to look completely out of place in a Middle Eastern country. But none of the soldier did more than stare at her for a moment before going back about their business. Once they had set up all of the boxes, the Oz soldiers left. Aluri didn't know how they expected that many wooden crates to go unnoticed. She found her way back to Quatre and Duo as the Maganac soldiers ran to check the boxes. They found Rashid standing behind a man checking one box.

"Well?" Rashid asked, as they checked one box.

"We can't move it. Its set so any movement will trigger it." the man checking the box said.

"Rashid, what's the matter?" Quatre asked.

"Oz played dumb and the whole time they were setting bombs all over town." one man said.

"There's twenty in total. I don't see how they expected anyone to over look these boxes." Aluri remarked, looking down at the bomb.

The men agreed with her. They were large boxes. Even hidden behind large, clay pots, they were still very noticeable.

"If they're time bombs, we just need to trash them all." Duo said.

"They're designed so we can't move them." Rashid replied.

"They've narrowed our troop's location down to this town." one man said.

"Which means, they're going to force us to surface." another added.

"They've set the bombs to go off at twelve, midnight. They must be hoping for a night time battle." added the third.

"It would seem that Oz is preparing to battle with us over night." Rashid said.

"Or they expect you to put the well being of the village before yourselves and surrender." Aluri remarked.

They saw the point behind that. The Oz soldiers were going to basically use the village and its inhabitants as a means to flush out the Maganac Corp. And Aluri knew, it would work. The Maganac Corp would not take this laying down.

"Aren't the Gundams causing this problem?" Quatre asked.

"That's right! I'm sure it's us, they're after!" Duo agreed.

"They're attack is very well thought out. As Miss Aluri said, they are probably hoping we will surrender to spare the town. They've probably been watching this town for quite some time." Rashid said.

Aluri crossed her arms, her eyes drifting to the bomb they were standing next to. Even when she had been watching the show, she had thought of the Oz soldiers' actions as lower than low. Though, speaking in terms of military strategy, it was a brilliant plan. Didn't make it any less low.

Aluri knew, it was going to end on sad terms, with the town being destroyed, but the inhabitants would get away alright.

The question now was...would Quatre and Duo forgive her for not warning them?

END

Kyandi: I wouldn't be able to wear a belly dancer outfit.

Aluri: Too embarrassed?

Kyandi: Hell yes! I barely like wearing short shorts or skirts. There's no way I would walk around in a tube top and a skirt that could come off with one tug.

Aluri: Baby.

Kyandi: Oh whatever. I'm just modest with my dress style.

Aluri: Oh yes, because plunging necklines are so modest.

Kyandi: No one asked you! Everyone, please ignore her and enjoy and review.

Aluri: We will be back as soon as possible.

Kyandi: Bye-bye!


End file.
